Western Hemisphere, Here We Come (Back)!

After two successful, adventure filled years in Viet Nam, Steven and I are planning to pack our bags and head back west this summer. We've both been offered positions at an international school in San Pedro Sula, Honduras for the 2010 - 2011 school year. I say "we," because in order to make the move, we will both need to work to support our family; not that the cost of living in Honduras is high - quite the opposite - but because as Americans educated in America, we both have student loan debt that needs to be paid off every month and adds quite a bit to our living expenses.

2010 Saigon Cyclo Challenge

 Last Sunday, Steven and I attended our second annual Saigon Cyclo Challenge to benefit Saigon Children's Charity. I was there as a spectator and Steven, as a part of the American International School Cyclo Team. Since he had driven a cyclo last year, he agreed to play a game instead - the race consisting of cyclo's racing around the track in-between "check-points" where team members play games to move their team ahead. 

Unvited Guests in our Ceiling

A few weeks ago I began to hear scratching on the tiles of our ceiling upstairs. A previous ferret-owner for almost 10 years, I immediately associated the scratching with rodents. Cats don't scratch like that, I thought. Every day over the next week or so, I heard the scratching again, like something trying to come through the ceiling.

Unemployed Once Again

After five months with Villes en Transition here in Viet Nam, I am once again unemployed. The organization had installed a new Head of Mission to take over the organization in October and fortunately (or unfortunately depending on where you stand) she was quite good at her job and through an initial audit, found that the organization had be overspending and spending money it didn't have, leaving us in a situation where we had projects planned, but no funds to fund them.

Koh Samui - Mae Nam Beach

Ayutthaya

River Views

Bike Ride through the Bangkok Jungle

Tet Flower Market - Benh Thanh Park

 

Vietnamese Weddings

Earlier this year, Steven and I were invited to attend the wedding of a co-worker of mine. Having not yet been to a Vietnamese wedding, despite seeing countless wedding parties mulling around outside hotels on any given night of the week for the past year and a half, I was quite excited. I asked some of my Vietnamese friends for their advice on Vietnamese wedding protocol and was basically told - "Just go, eat and leave" - which we've subsequently learned describes the experience at most Vietnamese wedding receptions. Upon further investigation, I did learn that there was much more ceremony involved, for which usually only the immediate family is involved.